McDonald's beefs up its Dollar Menu

Published 6:04 pm, Tuesday, December 17, 2013

This week Ken Hoffman reached out for a new BBQ Ranch Burger, part of the revamped and pricier Dollar Menu & More at McDonald s

This week Ken Hoffman reached out for a new BBQ Ranch Burger, part of the revamped and pricier Dollar Menu & More at McDonald s

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McDonald's beefs up its Dollar Menu

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This week, I reached out for a new BBQ Ranch Burger, part of the revamped and pricier Dollar Menu & More at America's No. 1 burger barn, McDonald's, with nearly 14,000 locations on restaurant row.

To borrow a journalism expression, McDonald's is burying the lead - or they got it backward - on its Dollar Menu & More. I'm seeing lots of "more" and not so much "dollar" on the "menu." The 20-count McNuggets box touches the unthinkable $5 mark.

McDonald's has upped the price of the plain McDouble (two patties and one slice of cheese) from $1 to $1.19 (or $1.29, depending on location).

Several other buck favorites have gone bye-bye. McDonald's taketh away and giveth. The giveth is the BBQ Ranch Burger.

Here's the blueprint: one beef patty seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper, topped with melted white cheddar, zesty barbecue ranch sauce and crispy tortilla strips on a classic bun.

McDonald's has borrowed Taco Bell's trick of raiding the refrigerator for familiar ingredients to create this seat filler on the dollar board. The beef patty is the same used on all of McDonald's smaller burgers, the white cheddar is borrowed from the Grilled Onion Cheddar Burger and Egg White Delight, the chili-lime tortilla chips are courtesy of the Southwest McWrap.

By "classic bun," McDonald's means without sesame seeds. Clever, making customers think they're getting more by giving them less.

The white cheddar is "pasteurized processed." That sounds almost like cheese. I'm going to look the other way.

The BBQ Ranch Burger is pretty tasty, though, with flavors and textures not found on other McDonald's burgers. The BBQ ranch sauce is creamy with a subtle zing of spice. The chili-lime chips provide some fun crunch. Food tastes better when you can hear it coming (see French Fry Burger at Burger King).

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While "new" usually means a price increase, McDonald's is holding the price fort on all its dollar breakfast items: Sausage McMuffin, Sausage Biscuit, Sausage Burrito, Hash Browns and coffee.

Still $1 the rest of the day: Buffalo Ranch McChicken, Grilled Onion Cheddar Burger, Sweet Tea and a smattering of "small" sides and desserts.